hello! some first questions...

14 years ago

Been a lurker for a few weeks now, this forum has been so helpful thus far, and I finally have my first post ready with questions.. =)

Our house was built in 1938 and the kitchen is pretty small at about 12 x 13. We're not knocking down any walls, but are replacing the flooring, cabinets, countertops, appliances, add lighting, replace plaster walls with drywall, replace ceiling and repainting. There is also asbestos in our flooring that has to be removed (eek!). We are doing this kitchen remodel with a budget of $10,000. Yes.. I understand that is very very low for what we are doing, but we are not using a GC or KD and it seems like it can be done at this current stage.

BEFORE:

From Demo

I guess my first questions are:

1. I am looking at Santa Cecilia granite and have seen it at four different places. Every place has had such different color variations, for example, some more gray tones, some more black tones, etc. To the people who have selected this color, were you satisfied with the piece that you got?

2. We purchased in-stock cabinets from Home Depot, but I would like to install some after-market drawer organization parts like the drawer pullouts, etc. Does anyone know where I could find these at a good price?

Thanks very much in advance!

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Comments (5)

heather720
14 years ago
Hi and welcome! I'm still trying to select my granite so I can't really help you there. Lowe's has some Rev-a-shelf products in store and online that seem not too excessive in price. My cabinets are't even in yet so this is just based on my research so far.
weidiii
14 years ago
I'm curious about your walls. Why are you replacing the plaster with drywall?
live_wire_oak
14 years ago
Home Depot stock cabinets aren't the best constructed. Sure, they're heavy duty enough for a laminate countertop, but I don't think they'll hold up in the long run to granite countertop. Their hardware is also pretty poor to use for a long term installation. They're designed for builders who have to rip them out after every tenant has destroyed them.

Now, Home Depot does carry American Woodmark cabinets, and they are a BIG step up in quality compared to their stock cabinets. They're also not that much more money.

I'm not trying to make you feel bad about your budget. I have done plenty of kitchens in that range, just not usually with upgrades like granite tops, or with that low a level of cabinets. I respect the fact that 10K is all you want to spend, but putting granite on those cabinets, when the cabinets may not last you 5 years, is misspending that limited budget. If you have to allocate more of that budget towards cabinetry on the front end, then do that and put a laminate coutnertop in for now and replace down the road with granite when the budget recovers from the initial remodel.
thndersnow
Original Author
14 years ago
weidii - We are replacing the plaster mostly because there had been tile on the walls and the adhesive they had used is really thick and not able to removed easily. So, it was either making a lot of effort to sand them down, or just take it all out and replace with drywall. It actually came down very easily - done today in just a couple of hours.

live wire oak - Thanks very much the info and for your opinion. I have definitely thought about how it would be wrong to use granite countertops with cheap in-stock cabinets, but I guess I had never thought about the durability of the cabinets with the heavy granite on top. We're not planning to stay in the house for more than 4-5 years, but that would be terrible if the people after us have to replace all the cabinets because of us. Nothing has been installed yet and the countertops haven't been purchased yet, so I will definitely re-consider one of the two.
thndersnow
Original Author
14 years ago
weidii - We are replacing the plaster mostly because there had been tile on the walls and the adhesive they had used is really thick and not able to removed easily. So, it was either making a lot of effort to sand them down, or just take it all out and replace with drywall. It actually came down very easily - done today in just a couple of hours.

live wire oak - Thanks very much the info and for your opinion. I have definitely thought about how it would be wrong to use granite countertops with cheap in-stock cabinets, but I guess I had never thought about the durability of the cabinets with the heavy granite on top. We're not planning to stay in the house for more than 4-5 years, but that would be terrible if the people after us have to replace all the cabinets because of us. Nothing has been installed yet and the countertops haven't been purchased yet, so I will definitely re-consider one of the two.